Days of the Week in Spanish: Pronunciation, Origins and Rules

The days of the week in Spanish

Here they are, in the order Spanish speakers use, which starts on Monday, not Sunday. More on that below.

Three things to notice before we go any further:

1. They are all lowercase. Spanish does not capitalise days of the week, months, languages or nationalities. "Monday" is a proper noun in English; "lunes" is just a noun in Spanish.
2. Five of them end in -es, and those five do not change in the plural. Lunes is both "Monday" and "Mondays". Only sábado and domingo take an -s: sábados, domingos.
3. They are all masculine. So it is el lunes, el sábado, los domingos. Always el, never la.

How to pronounce the days of the week in Spanish

The table gives you the rough shape. These are the specific sounds English speakers get wrong, day by day.

lunes (LOO-nes). Two syllables, stress on the first. The "u" is a pure "oo", the "e" is a short "eh". Do not turn the ending into "neez"; it is "ness" with a light S.

martes (MAR-tes). The R is a single tap, like the "tt" in the American pronunciation of "butter". Do not roll it (that is for RR) and do not swallow it English-style.

miércoles (MYER-ko-les). Three syllables, and the written accent tells you the stress goes on the first: MYER. The "ie" is a quick glide, "y" + "eh". Most learners say "mee-AIR-ko-les" with the stress in the wrong place. Watch the accent mark; it is there for a reason.

jueves (HWEH-bes). The Spanish J is a rough H from the back of the throat, like the "ch" in Scottish "loch" or a softer version of clearing your throat. Then "ue" is a "w" glide. So it is "HWEH", not "joo" and not "hoo". The V, as in all Spanish, is pronounced like a soft B.

viernes (BYER-nes). Spanish has no V sound. The letter V is pronounced exactly like B, with the lips together. "BYER-nes". If you say an English V with your top teeth on your lip, you will still be understood, but you will sound foreign in the first syllable.

sábado (SAH-ba-do). Stress on the first syllable, as the accent shows. The two B/D sounds in the middle are soft: the "b" is made with the lips barely touching, and the "d" is like the "th" in "this". "SAH-va-tho" is closer to native than "SAH-ba-do", if you can manage it.

domingo (do-MEEN-go). Stress on the middle syllable. The "g" is hard, as in "go". Easy one.

Where the days of the week in Spanish come from

This is the part that makes them stick. The Romans named the days after the seven "planets" they could see (the sun, the moon and five planets), and Spanish inherited the Roman names almost unchanged. English got the same system but swapped in Norse gods for four of them, which is why the English and Spanish names look unrelated until you know the story.

So Monday to Friday in Spanish are the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus. That "-es" ending on lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves and viernes is the fossil of the Latin genitive "-is" (Martis, Iovis) that meant "of Mars", "of Jupiter". Saturday and Sunday broke the pattern when Christianity replaced Saturn's day with the Sabbath and the Sun's day with the Lord's day.

Useful mnemonics from all this:

• martes = Mars, the red planet, war. Tuesday is Mars-day in Spanish, French (mardi) and Italian (martedì).
• jueves = Jove = Jupiter. Thursday. Think "Jupiter's day".
• viernes = Venus. "V" for Venus, Friday.
• domingo = Dominus = Lord. Sunday is the Lord's day. The name Domingo (Dominic) comes from the same root.
• sábado = Sabbath. Saturday.

The grammar of Spanish days: el, los and no "en"

This is the section that fixes the most common mistake in the whole topic. In English you say "on Monday". In Spanish you never use a preposition with a day of the week. The article does the job.

el + day = on (a specific) day

• Tengo una reunión el lunes. (I have a meeting on Monday.)
• Nos vemos el viernes. (See you on Friday.)
• La fiesta es el sábado. (The party is on Saturday.)

Never "en el lunes", never "en lunes". Just el lunes.

los + day = on (every) day, habitually

• Trabajo los sábados. (I work on Saturdays.)
• Los domingos comemos en casa de mi madre. (On Sundays we eat at my mother's.)
• No hay clase los lunes. (There's no class on Mondays.)

Remember that lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves and viernes stay the same in the plural, so the only clue that you mean "every Monday" is the word los: el lunes (this Monday) vs los lunes (Mondays).

No article after ser when identifying the day

• Hoy es martes. (Today is Tuesday.)
• Mañana es miércoles. (Tomorrow is Wednesday.)
• ¿Qué día es hoy? Es jueves. (What day is it today? It's Thursday.)

When the day is the thing you are naming, drop the article. When the day is when something happens, use it. That single distinction covers almost everything.

Other words that go with days

Why the Spanish week starts on Monday

If you look at a Spanish calendar, the leftmost column is lunes, not domingo. Spanish-speaking countries, like almost all of Europe and Latin America, follow the international standard that makes Monday the first day of the week, with Saturday and Sunday together at the end as the weekend. The US and Canadian habit of starting on Sunday is the exception, not the rule.

This matters for two practical reasons. First, if a Spanish speaker says "a principios de semana" (at the start of the week), they mean Monday or Tuesday. Second, when you write the days out, write them Monday first: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo. That is also the order in every Spanish children's song about the days, which brings us to the fastest way to memorise them.

How to memorise the days of the week in Spanish

Most people get them in a day or two with any of these.

Say them as a rhythm. LU-nes, MAR-tes, MIER-co-les, JUE-ves, VIER-nes, SA-ba-do, do-MIN-go. Seven words, and if you say them fast they fall into a natural 4/4 beat. Say the list out loud ten times while walking. It works better than staring at a table.

Use the planets. Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Sabbath, Lord. Once you have the story you cannot un-know it.

Notice the -es pattern. Monday to Friday all end in -es. Only the weekend days are different. If you can remember "the weekdays end in -es", you only really have to memorise five word-beginnings plus sábado and domingo.

Change your phone's language for a week. The calendar, the lock screen and every notification will show you the day. It is annoying for about two days and then the words are yours.

Write your week in Spanish. Every morning, one line: "Hoy es lunes. Tengo trabajo. El sábado voy a la playa." Thirty seconds, and you have used the day, the article rule and the ser rule in one go.

Phrases with the days of the week you will actually use

Asking and saying the day

• ¿Qué día es hoy? (keh DEE-ah es oy) What day is it today?
• Hoy es lunes. Today is Monday.
• ¿A qué día estamos? What day are we on? (Very common, especially in Spain.)
• Estamos a martes. We're on Tuesday. (Answer to the above.)
• Mañana es miércoles. Tomorrow is Wednesday.
• Ayer fue domingo. Yesterday was Sunday.
• Pasado mañana es viernes. The day after tomorrow is Friday.
• Anteayer fue jueves. The day before yesterday was Thursday.

Making plans

• ¿Qué haces el sábado? What are you doing on Saturday?
• ¿Quedamos el jueves? Shall we meet up on Thursday? (Spain)
• ¿Nos vemos el viernes? See you Friday?
• Estoy libre el domingo. I'm free on Sunday.
• El lunes no puedo. I can't on Monday.
• ¿Te viene bien el martes? Does Tuesday work for you?
• Hasta el lunes. See you Monday.
• Buen fin de semana. Have a good weekend.

Talking about routine

• Los lunes tengo clase de español. On Mondays I have Spanish class.
• Trabajo de lunes a viernes. I work Monday to Friday.
• Abrimos de martes a domingo. We're open Tuesday to Sunday.
• Cerrado los lunes. Closed on Mondays. (You will see this on restaurant doors all over Spain.)
• Los domingos no hago nada. On Sundays I do nothing.

Dates

When you give a full date in Spanish, the day of the week goes first, then the number, then the month, with "de" between the number and the month:

• el lunes 3 de marzo (Monday, March 3rd)
• el sábado 14 de junio (Saturday, June 14th)
• Hoy es viernes, 20 de septiembre. (Today is Friday, September 20th.)

Note the number comes before the month, always. Spanish writes 20/9, not 9/20.

Abbreviations for the days of the week in Spanish

On calendars, timetables and shop signs you will see the days shortened. There are two common systems.

The X for Wednesday confuses everyone the first time. It exists purely because martes and miércoles both start with M, and Spanish picked X (which appears in the middle of "miércoles"... sort of) rather than "Mi". You will see it on Spanish parking signs and school timetables: "L M X J V".

Common mistakes with days of the week in Spanish

• "En lunes" or "en el lunes". No preposition. It is just "el lunes".
• Capitalising them. "Lunes" is only capitalised at the start of a sentence. Same for months.
• "Los luneses". Lunes is already the plural. Only sábados and domingos add an S.
• Stressing miércoles on the wrong syllable. The accent is on the first e: MIÉR-co-les.
• Pronouncing jueves with an English J. It starts with a throaty H: HWEH-bes.
• Using "la" with a day. All days are masculine: el, los.
• "Es el lunes hoy". When identifying the day, no article: "Hoy es lunes".
• Starting the week on Sunday. In every Spanish-speaking country, the week starts on lunes.
• Confusing "el fin de semana" and "el finde". They mean the same; "el finde" is the casual Spanish (from Spain) shortening. Fine with friends, odd in an email to your boss.

Days of the week in Spanish vs other Romance languages

If you know one Romance language, you get the others cheaply. The days of the week in Spanish line up almost perfectly with French, Italian and Portuguese, with one big exception.

Portuguese is the odd one out: it numbers its weekdays (second day, third day, fourth day...) instead of naming them after planets, a change made by the early Church in Portugal. So a Spanish speaker in Lisbon has to relearn Monday to Friday, while Saturday and Sunday are identical.

Practise saying them, not just reading them

You now know more about the days of the week in Spanish than most people who have studied the language for a year. But knowing that jueves starts with a throaty H is not the same as producing it under pressure when a Spanish colleague asks "¿Quedamos el jueves?" and you have half a second to answer.

Do this today:

1. Say the seven days out loud, in order, ten times, stress in the right place.
2. Say "Hoy es , mañana es , ayer fue ___" with the real days.
3. Make three plans out loud: "El sábado voy a...", "Los lunes tengo...", "¿Nos vemos el viernes?"
4. Then say them to something that talks back. SPAIKING's AI speaking partner will ask what day it is, ask you to make a plan, and correct the J in jueves, the V in viernes and the stress in miércoles in real time. That is the step that turns a vocabulary list into something you can actually use in a conversation.